Free Thinking Podcast
Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives - looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Fridays at 9pm on BBC Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
Episodes to download
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Ground-breaking history books
Tue 7 Dec 2021
Rana Mitter talks to historians making waves with the books they have published.
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The Day of the Triffids
Thu 2 Dec 2021
The end of the world as we know it. Matthew Sweet and guests re-read John Wyndham's novel
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Caribbean art
Wed 1 Dec 2021
As a Tate Britain show opens, Shahidha Bari looks at Caribbean post war writing and art
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Dürer, Rhinos and Whales
Tue 30 Nov 2021
Writer Philip Hoare, curator Robert Wenley, historian Helen Cowie talk celebrity animals.
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Christopher Logue's War Music
Wed 24 Nov 2021
Shahidha Bari and guests read this version of Homer's Illiad and look at Logue's language
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Romanian history and literature
Tue 23 Nov 2021
Novelists Mircea Cărtărescu, Georgina Harding & Philippe Sands join Anne McElvoy
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Faking It and Trompe-l'oeil
Fri 19 Nov 2021
From fake flowers carved by Grinling Gibbons to modern craft and internet images.
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Marvin Gaye's What's Going On
Wed 17 Nov 2021
Ahead of a performance at the London Jazz Festival, what history underpins the album?
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Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex
Tue 16 Nov 2021
One of the key French Existentialists of the 1950s, how does de Beauvoir read today?
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New Thinking: Being Human 2021
Thu 11 Nov 2021
Research into covid comics, codes in Dickens, projecting books onto hospital ceilings.
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The Imperial War Museum Remembrance Discussion 2021
Tue 9 Nov 2021
How do we define a war? Anne McElvoy and guests look at how language changes attitudes.
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God's Body
Fri 5 Nov 2021
Matthew Sweet is joined by Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Mark Vernon and Hetta Howes
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Caesar, Hogarth and images of power
Wed 3 Nov 2021
Rana Mitter talks to Professor Mary Beard, artist Ali Cherri and looks at Hogarth's art.
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Oceans, art and pacific poetry
Tue 2 Nov 2021
From coral reef sculptures to creation sagas of Australia and attitudes to land and sea.
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Time
Fri 29 Oct 2021
As the clocks go back, Matthew Sweet and guests host a party for time travellers
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Celebrating Buchi Emecheta
Wed 27 Oct 2021
Shahidha Bari leads a discussion of Nigerian-born novelist Buchi Emecheta (1944-2017).
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Twilight
Tue 26 Oct 2021
Poet Pascale Petit, photographer Jasper Goodall, Alexandra Harris, composer Sally Beamish
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The Language of Flowers
Thu 21 Oct 2021
Rebecca Solnit's book Orwell's Roses explores his interest in gardening
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Rationality & Tradition
Wed 20 Oct 2021
Steven Pinker on Rationality and Tim Stanley on Tradition - Anne McElvoy hosts
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New Thinking: Black British Theatre. An Afro-Cuban star
Tue 19 Oct 2021
From a Black Juliet in the 18th century to Ira Aldridge’s daughter Amanda + Rita Montaner
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Frieze: Museums in the 21st century
Tue 12 Oct 2021
Anne McElvoy talks to the directors at London's National Gallery, Yale and New York's Met
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The British Academy Book Prize 2021
Wed 6 Oct 2021
New ways of thinking about global problems - Rana Mitter reads this year's shortlist.
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Breakfast
Tue 5 Oct 2021
Literally "breaking the fast" - Matthew Sweet moves from the Full English to Tiffany's.
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Order & Chaos
Thu 30 Sep 2021
Clutter, indexes, and jazz improvisation. Ruth Ozeki and others join Shahidha Bari
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Thomas Mann
Wed 29 Sep 2021
Novelist Colm Toibin joins Anne McElvoy to discuss the German author's life and struggles
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The continuing appeal of Tudor history
Tue 28 Sep 2021
Philippa Gregory tells Matthew Sweet why the Tudors are still so hot.
Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019
Angry politics, what we can’t say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV
Click to listen to discussions, talks and music as the Free Thinking Festival 2019 Gets Emotional
Angry politics, what we can’t say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV
CLICK to LISTEN & SEE programmes from the Free Thinking Festival 2018: The One & the Many
We examine the fast-changing relationship between the individual & the crowd
CLICK to LISTEN & SEE all programmes, images, clips & features from 2017's festival
Free Thinking Festival 2017: The Speed of Life
